‘It’s Like Falling in Love’: Israeli Entrepreneurs Welcomed in Dubai
Category: News & Politics
Via: krishna • 4 years ago • 9 commentsBy: By Isabel Kershner and Photographs by Dan Balilty
A meeting between Israeli representatives from the J.V.P. fund and Emirati businesspeople.
Important Related Seed: United Arab Emirates Relaxes Islamic Laws On Alcohol And Cohabitation, Criminalizes 'Honor' Killings.
(There are many more excellent photos in the original article)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Israeli entrepreneurs in the V.I.P. room atop the Burj Khalifa, a landmark tower in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.
DUBAI — For years, Israeli entrepreneurs slipped in and out of the United Arab Emirates incognito, traveling on second passports or doing business through third parties.
So when more than two dozen Israeli high-tech executives turned up in Dubai recently, it was hard to miss them. Chatting away in Hebrew, they traipsed across the marbled expanses of the Dubai Mall and up to the V.I.P. observation deck atop the iconic Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
It had been less than six weeks since the Emirates and Bahrain, another Gulf Arab country, signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel and open up embassies. But this high-profile delegation of Israeli innovators was making a conspicuous entrance even before direct flights and other formal protocols had been established.
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DUBAI — For years, Israeli entrepreneurs slipped in and out of the United Arab Emirates incognito, traveling on second passports or doing business through third parties.
So when more than two dozen Israeli high-tech executives turned up in Dubai recently, it was hard to miss them. Chatting away in Hebrew, they traipsed across the marbled expanses of the Dubai Mall and up to the V.I.P. observation deck atop the iconic Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building
The Emirati investors also showed keen interest in a sensor presented by Yehonatan Ben Hamozeg, the founder of Agrint, an agriculture intelligence company. The sensor “listens” to palm trees and allows early detection of weevils that can eventually destroy the trees from the inside.
The United Arab Emirates has more than 40 million date palms, about a third of the world’s total. In a promising sign of future cooperation, a potential client invited Mr. Ben Hamozeg, whose sensor has been under testing for a year in the Emirates through an American subsidiary, to visit his private farm.
Another of the Emirati investors, Mohamed Mandeel, the chief operating officer of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners group, said he felt a sense of kinship with the Israelis. He recounted how he had taken a DNA test and found a match for his rare Babylonian gene in Tel Aviv.
“If we set aside the religious ideologies and 70 years fueled by conflict, wars and the media, we end up with human beings,” he said in an interview. “We share the same food, the same DNA, the same look,” he added, describing the Israelis as “cousins.”
This part bears repeating:
“If we set aside the religious ideologies and 70 years fueled by conflict, wars and the media, we end up with human beings,” he said in an interview. “We share the same food, the same DNA, the same look,” he added, describing the Israelis as “cousins.”
We could use a lot more of this attitude in the world.
(And possibly even in the U.S.-- although its doubful most of our politicians will do that
),
Excellent.
This is fantastic. Both countries will gain from this.
And it could go even beyond that.
Now that the UAE has taken this "politically incorrect" step, it will be easier for other Arab states to do the same...eventually leading to a more peaceful Middle East.
Whah-Whah! Thanks Debbie Downer. Do you got any more nasty nuggets of negativism?
Besides, you have no way of knowing that...